Hagerman trumpet mc or Ear 834 classic phono pre amplifier.

@bkeske Good stuff. Interesting info on the Trumpet. Yeah, the Ear is basic and has no loading options. 

The EAR classic is using built-in step-up transformers (SUT) for MC gain. These transformers are likely to be much cheaper than the transformers in their wonderful standalone MC-4 SUT box ($2200 on its own), and don’t have any of its loading/gain flexibility either (4 gain levels!). If you’re going to compare the Trumpet MC’s MC stage (JFET) in isolation to an EAR MC-4, then I’d say the MC-4 wins for most MC cartridges (not all!), but the Trumpet hangs very close on overall musicality - closer than most.

Having not heard the EAR Phono Classic myself (like @bkeske ), but having a Trumpet MC and an EAR MC-4 (and MC-3) and a slew of other phono gear to extrapolate against - I’d be surprised if the Classic’s built-in transformers can match the Trumper MC’s JFET stage in musicality - and certainly falls far behind it in flexibility. The built-in transformers were an oft-decried weakness of the prior 843P phono stage (assuming they’re similar here).

As @bkeske noted the noise floor of the Trumpet MC is a little higher than you’d expect from a SUT + tube MM stage combo, or even other JFET + tube MM stages. That’s its main weakness. I’m not a stickler for ultra-low noise so I pay it little mind. It’s also tilted to a warm sound, which I like, and you can tweak this with tube rolling.

I just wanted to add a note, as I was typing quickly while working....I mistakingly typed 12ay7's....that should have been 12au7's. Sorry about that.

What cartridge does OP have …. ? in my mind an essential bit of info… 

What tube has the most influence to the sound that comes from the phono pre amplifier 12ax7 or 12au.